Dear members,
Well don’t you just love Autumn in Melbourne, such beautiful weather, perfect for getting out and enjoying our city and State in our cars with a bunch of our best friends.
We started March with one of the best car events on the calendar, Geelong Revival. With some of our members volunteering at the event and others displaying their cars it was a great effort for BMWDCM with over 50 cars displayed on both days. The weather was not true to Autumn sunshine with drizzling rain on both days, but we were lucky to see the sun at times and it didn't dampen the spirits of our club members or spoil our great display. It was fantastic to see so many of our members there and new members and we also signed up quite a few over the weekend. The best part of the event was BMW Drivers Club Melbourne walking away with the Best Car Display of the event! Thank you all that came and visited us or had your car on display.
8 March was a Zoom catch up where we were able to go over some of our future events and chat about new and exciting things happening within the club network.
On 10 - 14 March a large group of us travelled up to Canberra for the BMW Clubs Australia Nationals. Some members chose to take 3 days to get there, others 2 days and 4 cars drove straight up in 1 day. If you have never done a Nationals, you should as they are a fantastic event and a great way to catch up with members from other states and see some truly amazing cars. Canberra is a lovely place to visit anyway, so much to see and do, being our Nation’s Capital.
12 - 13 March was also the Phillip Island Festival of Speed. We had a great representation of cars on display, thanks to Paul Holliday and other members who helped for the weekend making it a great weekend for all who attended.
25 March was our monthly catch up with Munich, which was as enjoyable as usual.
On the weekend of 25 - 27 March about 8 of our members competed in the second round of the E30 Racing Championship at Winton, with Alex Jory again winning the weekend to consolidate his lead in the Championship. A handful of our members also attend to volunteer - Jo was doing her Silver Admin Officials upgrade and was flat out with registration and then in race control, Tim running around helping both Jo and I, I was chief Scrutineer for most of the weekend, Darryl was on the gate giving everyone a huge smile as they entered. We are so proud of our members who pitched in over the weekend and really helped out making life easier for those at the top of the tower.
We do encourage all of our members to consider volunteering in motorsport, you can start with doing the General Officials course via the Motorsport Australia website. You'll also need to complete a Working with Children’s Check, which is free for club members as we are not for profit organisation - tick Motorsport Australia and BMW Drivers club Melbourne as your clubs as well as any other club you may want to volunteer with. You never know when you are at an event, we may need to call upon you to help us out or the shoe might be on the other foot and you may want to help, having these credentials protects you from any incidents that may happen, and you are covered by Motorsport Australia insurance.
On 2 April we start off at Broadford with our International Women’s Day Come and Try track event, which is not just for women but men are welcome too, but we are encouraging more woman to get into motorsport as drivers and officials. This is sold out now but if you want to come along and have a look, please feel free. We as a club are very lucky to have quite a few woman drivers both with Level 2 Speed and full competition licences. Quite possibly, half our officials are woman and as mentioned above Jo is now a Silver Admin and also holds Bronze Circuit and Bronze Event Command licence which enables us to be able to run very professional events but also gets Jo up in race control at State Level events. We encourage you to get out and do it if this is something you have always been interested in, it does not cost you anything but time. Holding a Motorsport Australia Officials Licence also allows you to officiate at Supercar and even F1 events, so if you love motorsport, you can’t get any closer to the action that being an official.
On 6 April, 20 lucky DCM Members will be having their cars on display at the Formula 1 Grand Prix from Wednesday until Sunday, so if you are there be sure to drop by and check out the display and have a chat.
Over the Grand Prix weekend I will also be representing DCM at the annual BMW Clubs Australia AGM in Melbourne, where delegates from all the Official BMW Clubs get together to share news and ideas about BMW and the Club world. We also spend a day with BMW Group Australia to get the latest news from BMW head office. Looking forward to that, and I will have a report in my next newsletter.
12 April is this month’s members meeting, which is a member only event at one of our members’ private car collection. This is looking like a huge event with over 60 members registered already and I am sure we will get close to 100.
15 April is our Coffee and Cars to raise money for the RCH Appeal, in Beaumaris. Please come along and give so we can help support the wonderful work the Royal Children’s Hospital does.
On 17 April we have a car display at the Flinders Motoring Heritage Display. We have won best car display of the day for the last 2 events, let’s try to make it 3 in a row! If you don’t want to display, then why not just pop by and see all the fantastic cars.
On 23- 25 April we will be doing our ANZAC weekend away, this time to Lakes Entrance. There are still a few rooms left but these are going quickly and due to this being still school holidays you will need to book fast. We have a few tours booked as well, and you will also need to be fast to get into those. Of course, for those early risers, we will be taking in an ANZAC Day dawn service ceremony on ANZAC Day as well.
30 April is our presentation and birthday dinner which this year we thought we would have a bit of fun and have it as a themed night BUT if you are not comfortable wearing dress up, this is fine just come dressed in smart casual/after 5 wear (ie, no denim!) and join in the fun of the night. There will be lots of awards given out and who know you might just walk away with one. You don’t have to enter in a competition to be in the running for an award, we have Member of the Year, New Member of the Year and Presidents Award, so you could be in the running for any of these awards. Registrations are still open, so come along and support those who have won and join in the fun. We also present our 2021 Motorsport and Show and Shine Winners Awards on the night, so you may be in the running for one of those.
March was a very busy month and April is looking just as busy again, with an event or two nearly every weekend. So, if your passion is showing or driving, we have something coming up for you.
As always, keep an eye on your emails and check on the club calendar for upcoming events. There is always something on.
Remember, we have a welfare team too, if you are experiencing hardship or need someone to chat to, they are only a phone call away.
Take care out there, drive safe and see you at an event soon.
Graeme Bell | President
BMW Drivers Club Melbourne Inc.
P.O. Box 81, TYABB VIC 3913
Incorporated in Victoria #A0102695G
BMW Drivers Club Melbourne Inc is a member of: BMW Clubs Australia and the BMW Clubs International Council
Motorsport Australia Affiliated Motorsport Club
